Last Offices

[iNurseUK, RN]

It occurred to me the other day when carrying out last offices that much of it is ritualistic with no basis in evidence-based nursing practice.

Why wash the body? (unless obviously soiled.Often not the case) I caught myself opening the window too. Wrapped in a shroud we then wrap the body in a sheet, cover with a second clean sheet and call the porters but never say "morgue" we use "Rose Cottage" as a euphemism.

Some nurses have odd superstitions around last offices. I remember one old-school nurse who insisted on removing jewellery "You can't send them to God with their trinkets about them"

What are your experiences of last offices?

[bunsterj]

When I 1st started as a nurse (1982), we used to tie the hands together, tie the feet together, use a chin strap, and tuck an ABD in between the buttocks---then wrap in a plastic shroud and secure with several ties. We would only wash what was dirty. About 1985, most of the local funeral homes requested that we not do anything to the body, other than cleaning as needed, and if time allowed, they came directly to the floor to pick up the patient. I think all of our tying was causing marks on the body.

[cb_rn]

what the heck bunsterj...lol...did someone think they were going to get up and walk off?

[RNperdiem, RN]

In my part of the country, open-casket funerals are common, especially among older folks.

Funeral homes set our practices. We don't wash the bodies except where obviously dirty. Remove tubes/lines unless and autopsy is requested, no tying of hands with the plastic ties, since that leaves marks.

[bunsterj]

cb_rn lol, I think it was just to make a tidy package.

[cb_rn]

In nursing school if a patient passed, we had to wheel them downstairs with another student to the basement after we performed the final care. It was down a long, secluded hallway and nobody was around, you'd buzz on the intercom and someone in security would unlock the door remotely. It was fairly scary. I remember I would never look around because on our orientation tour, there was a baby that staff had put in a hospital garment bag. Im a religious person so in my mind, I knew that baby's spirit had moved on, but it made me so sad

[Zookeeper3]

Lol, we say "he went to the first floor" meaning the morgue.

Most of my peers open the windows 'to let the spirt out', I think that just lets in bugs, and let in a bird once:lol2:

I've been nursing long enough that we used to wrap the hands and chin.

Now I wash every dead pt. so they look and smell nice when the family comes back into say goodbye.

I believe in the death bath.

[brownbook]

I just left them for the mortician. Of course special care for coroner cases, and clean up obvious messes. I had a grandfather die. Family was notified and the mortician was going to get the body in the morning. I took him to our morgue. Then his adult grand daughter shows up wanting to see him. I explained his body was in our morgue which isn't a very attractive room, he was on a metal slab, etc., She still wanted to see his body He smelled a little of urine so I sprayed our apple fragrance air freshener around his body. To this day I think that poor lady is going to think of her dead grandpa when she smells apples!!!